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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 2 Corinthians 3:13 - 3:13
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Could not steadfastly look
Rev., should not. See Exo 34:30-35, where the A.V., by the use of till, gives the wrong impression that Moses wore the veil while speaking to the people, in order to hide the glory of his face. The true sense of the Hebrew is given by the Sept.: “When he ceased speaking he put a veil on his face;” not because the Israelites could not endure the radiance, but that they should not see it fade away. Whenever Moses went into the presence of God he removed the veil, and his face was again illumined, and shone while he delivered God's message to the people. Then, after the delivery of the message, and during his ordinary association with the people, he kept his face covered.
To the end (εἰς τὸ τέλος)
Rev., on the end. The termination.
Of that which is abolished (τοῦ καταργουμένου)
See 2Co 3:11. The temporarily glorified ministration of Moses. The end of this, which the veil prevented the Israelites from seeing, was the disappearance of the glory - the type of the termination of Moses' ministry. Paul's comparison is between the ministry of Moses, interrupted by intervals of concealment, and the gospel ministry, which is marked by frank and full proclamation. “The opposition is twofold: 1. Between the veiled and the unveiled ministry, as regards the mere fact of concealment in the one case, and openness in the other. 2. Between the ministry which was suspended by the veiling that its end might not be seen, and that which proceeds 'from glory to glory,' having no termination” (Alford). The face of Moses needed a continually renewed illumination: in the face of Christ the glory abides forever.